Rhizomes 10–15 mm diam. Culms bluntly trigonous with nearly flat sides throughout to cylindric proximally, obscurely trigonous distally, 1–4 m × 4–10 mm, smooth. Leaves 3–4, basal, ca. 1/6 culm length; sheath fronts coarsely pinnate-fibrillose; blades 0–1, dorsiventrally flat, not more than 1/2 sheath length, distal blade to 20 × 2 mm. Inflorescences 3 or more times branched, branches to 21 cm; proximal bract usually erect, obtusely trigonous to subcylindric-channeled, 1–8 cm, margins often scabridulous. Spikelets 25–150+, solitary and in clusters of 2 or more, 5–11 × 3 mm; scales orange-brown, brightly lineolate-spotted, broadly oval, 2.5 × 2 mm, margins ciliolate, flanks veinless, apex rounded, notch 0.1–0.2 mm deep, awn not contorted, usually bent outward, 0.3 mm, sparsely scabrous. Flowers: perianth members 2–4, dark red-brown, thickly strap-shaped or trigonous, equaling achenes, fringed with brownish, soft, blunt hairs; anthers 1.5 mm; styles 2-fid. Achenes dark gray-brown when ripe, unequally biconvex or plano-convex, ovoid to obovoid, 1.8–2.2 × 1.3 mm; beak 0.2 mm. 2n = 68.
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A sedge. These grow in clumps and have grass like leaves and solid stalks. It grows 2 m tall. It has spreading rhizomes.
It is a tropical plant. It grows in wet places. It grows in fresh marshes and along shores. It can grow from sea level to 1,400 m above sea level. In Argentina it grows from sea level to 2,000 m above sea level.
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Brackish to fresh marshes, shores, often emergent in water; at elevations from sea level to 1,400 metres in North America. Shallow water of lake shores, ranging from sea level to about 1,700 metres in Guatemala.